What’s the best Mac internet browser?

“Web browsing in Mac OS X couldn’t be easier,” Mark Hattersley writes for Macworld UK. “Ever since Apple introduced its own web browser, Safari, to Mac OS X and inserted its icon into the Dock by default, all you need to do is to connect to Wi-Fi (or a local network), click the Safari icon and you’re good to go.”

“Many Mac users are familiar with Safari, especially if they use both iOS and Mac OS X (both of which use Safari as the main way to interact with the web). But Safari isn’t the only internet browser for Mac, and it’s not necessarily the best,” Hattersley writes. “Your chosen web browser – the software program that interprets the code use to build each website and presents it for your enjoyment – can make a serious difference to your enjoyment of your favourite websites.”

Hattersley writes, “In this feature we look at the pros and cons of using all the major Mac internet browsers – not to mention the minor ones, and a fair few of the weird and obscure options – and explain [for which activities] each browser is best.”

Covered in-depth in the full article:• Safari: Best Mac browser for Apple fans, as well as for visuals and overall balance
• Firefox: Best Mac browser for customisation/tweaking
• Google Chrome: Best for developers
• Opera: Best web browser for innovation and proxy content
• Rock Melt: Interesting Mac browser with a focus on integrating social media
• Torch Browser: All-in-one browser and media player. Interesting to people who download a lot of torrents
• Camino [now defunct]: Open source web browser from Mozilla. Lacks any real unique features, but is nice to use
• Flock: A unique browser with an emphasis on social networking
• Sunrise: Interesting browser for developers with a range of information about how websites load

Personally I would have a very hard time using any Google product due to the corporate ethics, and the nature of the company being a spy. That said, you didn’t really say what you liked about Chrome, so your comment wasn’t as valuable as it could have been.

Originally switched to Chrome years ago because bookmarks can be reduced to favicons, unlike Safari (and earlier versions of Firefox). Now that I’m familiar with Chrome’s dev tools, I’m pretty locked in (Chrome’s inspector has replaced FireBug for me), and of course, there’s no easy way to transfer extensions like Reddit Enhancement Suite between browsers.

I downloaded Chrome to test a website problem, to see if it was the site or the browser. Haven’t used it since. I’m sure it’s a fine browser, but I really don’t want to worry about Google recording everything I do. And since I understand that Chrome works best if you log in with your Google ID, I don’t think that’s an irrational concern.

Does Google track the pages you view through Chrome? To be clear, I don’t mean your searches, or even the pages you arrive at through search, I mean everything. Are they keeping track of every page that a particular user opens in their browser?

Good heavens! Internet Explorer comes in third place? Didn’t Microsoft kill IE for Mac back in 2005? If the data is accurate, I feel like there are a bunch of Mac users who aren’t experiencing an enjoyable Internet browsing experience.

What have you got against Firefox? Firefox renders web pages as beautifully as Safari in my opinion. It’s not my default browser (Safari is) only because it follows certain Windows conventions rather than OS X conventions, e.g. close tab button being on the right (Firefox) rather than on the left (Safari), due to its dual nature of being developed for Windows and Mac but other than that it’s a great web browser.

I tend to distrust these kinds of studies. IE was so popular because 99% of users (please exclude all developers) like my mum could care less about the browser and clicked on what was default. Download another? Huh? What? How? You can do that? She doesn’t know and doesn’t care.

For Mac users (again exclude techs and developers), I would assume the same holds at 99% using Safari.

If the Mac is holding a 10% market share, I would expect 10% of internet users use safari.

We already hear reports of more than 90% of all mobile web traffic is safari.

What is “best” for one is not best for all. If chrome makes you a better programmer, use it.

But if you want to make sure your app runs on 90% of desktop users pc’s, better make sure it runs in IE. And make sure your app also runs on the remaining 10% of the market’s Mac users.

But for us techies, I will stick to Firefox because I am used to it and others will go with chrome. But my targets may differ.

Or alternatively you can force web users to use a more modern browser by not programming for earlier versions of Internet Explorer or making the site only compatible with Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. Granted, this could backfire, but it could also cause migration out of the Internet Dark Ages. I mean, companies have IT staff for this reason, right?

Isn’t it pathetic that Safari, which renders web pages beautifully is almost dead last vs Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. Why is that?

Safari, unsurprisingly, got lots of nonsensical bad press on the Windows side simply because it’s from Apple. Apple ended up abandoning it on Windows. It never went past version 5.x. Therefore, no one on Windows bothers to use it.

Firefox is becoming a disaster. The developers have some nutty ideas about interface and have told a large group of their users, “We know better. Get used to it.” What used to be a capability to customization is becoming more and more a cause of freezing, restarting, and reinstalling. I would hesitate to make any projections about Firefox’s future.

His comment may be inaccurate but you didn’t make much of a case. Profanity does not replace a well reasoned argument, and due to your lack of ability to articulate how he was wrong I’m actually more inclined to believe him after your comment rather than less, and I do not even use FireFox.

I also hate that they took out the ability to download videos embedded in web pages. The new develop menu is such a crippled alternative to the simple window that allowed you to see (and download) any content of any webpage. I honestly wish I could uninstall the current Safari and reinstall an earlier version.

Shadow, I also like iCab and found it strange to have no mention. It has been around a long time and is normally kept well updated…and it’s Mac-only. Like you, I also use it when I have problems with other browsers. It’s been good solid for me and has features others don’t have.

They list one of Firefox’s features as “Encrypted Google searches.” The irony here is that keeping others from seeing your searches isn’t the problem. The problem is keeping Google from seeing your searches.

I love Opera for a list of one-click bookmarks in a panel down the left side of the window and that it remembers multiple account log-ins for the same site. I’m hoping Safari will have this Bookmark feature in Mavericks- if so, I would switch…